You can’t spell ‘open source software’ without ‘orcs’

There’s an alarming amount of open source software coming out of New Zealand these days. While trolling the web for a suitable CMS for the liberry, I got tangled up in another web of Kiwi FOSS intrigue. It’s not just the geeks and communists using it- it seems to have even infiltrated the government of New Zealand. Combine this with the Koha project, the hottest thing in libraries since wheels on a cart.

What’s to be done about this? Will Europe let the gauntlet fall so easily? I’ve always perceived it to be the nerve center of FOSS, but New Zealand is taking to open source with Zeal (har!). America remains a stronghold of M$, with a fiefdom of Apple users to boot. Thankfully, open source is above nationality, and what benefits one benefits all.

Some people see the future dominance of open-source as inevitable. This seems a little naive. There’s still money in software, even if it’s given away. M$ has a number of free software packages whose source is as tightly guarded as the Colonel’s Recipe. Besides, without closed-source software, there’d be no villians 🙂